THE GERBRANDS' PROJECT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF DOCUMENTED VISUAL DATA

Margo Spee

Today, more and more anthropologists are making ethnological films during their fieldwork. It has become a lot easier to make a film, since the breakthrough of inexpensive and lightweight video cameras and sound recorders (Nijland, Meyknecht & Postma 1992). It is even possible for the researcher to follow a seminar where (s)he can learn how to use audiovisual tools. The founder of this seminar, which is called 'Introduction to the Use of Audiovisual Means', is Professor Adrian A. Gerbrands. Gerbrands was one of the first anthropologists who stressed the importance of collecting visual data (photographs, slides and films), to support a reseacher's fieldnotes. His film Matjemosh, about an Asmat woodcarver, was made during his fieldwork in 1960-'61 and is well known all over the world. In those years, it was a luxury to film with a heavy 16 mm filmcamera, which you could use for only 24 seconds after which the spring had to be rewind. In 1967, Gerbrands visited the people of Kilenge, in the northwest of New Britain (Papua New Guinea). Over a period of seven months of fieldwork in 1967 , followed by research in 1970, 1973 and 1978, he made 12 films and collected more than thousand photographs (black and white) and about 5000 colour slides. His aim was not only to make a historical document, but also to collect a lot of information from the local people of Kilenge by showing them the Kilenge films he made: "When you are filming a certain ceremony or event, there is little time to ask questions and get explanations about all the things going on,. But afterwards, when most of the excitements has died down, you can sit down with a few informants, and look at a particular event again, on film. You can even stop and rewind that particular part of the film to get some information about a certain activity or moment" (Gerbrands 1992-'93).

Gerbrands can remember that sometimes he did not stop the film to ask questions, because as an outsider he did not recognize a very important detail. When this happened, the local people told him to stop the film, because he had forgotten something. They look at things in a different way and most of their comments were of great value.

The Gerbrands-Project in the National Museum of Ethnology

Following the donation of Gerbrands' extended collection of photographs and slides to the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde (National Museum of Ethnology) in Leiden, the museum started the Gerbrands Project last year. The aim of this research is to compile the information from Gerbrands on his Kilenge fieldwork and to catalogue the complete documentation of the visual Kilenge collection, which also includes information about the 350 Kilenge museum objects he gathered.

I am working for a period of 17 months (May 1992 - October 1993), on the Gerbrands Project in the Rijksmuseum, Leiden. In spite of the fact that he is now 76 years old, Professor Gerbrands has now been coming to the museum for more than a year. Together we go through the slides, photographs and films he made in Kilenge between 1967 and 1978. I make notes and tapes of his descriptions and remarks, which I later compile with BIB-SEARCH, a special computer programme for catalogues.

Registration of data

The following data is stored by the BIB-SEARCH programme:

- the name of the collection
- the number of the slide
- the description (with remarks and explanations)
- the meaning of native words in the description
- the time (date/year) and photographer
- the place where the photographer took the picture
- the names of the people on the picture
- the quality, material and size of the slide
- references to the other slides
- references to photographs and films, tapes
- references to relevant literature
- references to museum objects
- items on the slide
- keywords
- the category of the subject

The cataloguing system of the museum objects uses almost the same list as above.
Particularly the last data in this list make it easy to find information about all different kinds of subjects. There are 22 categories to trace information. For example, if you want information about drums, you can use the category "music and dance", but it is also possible to use a kewyord or the item, in both cases "drum". If you want to find related pictures, films, objects, or literature, you can use the references.

The Jaws and the Coconut

Many slides in the Gerbrands collection would be useless if the correct information about them was not collected. One striking example is a picture of a tree from which a coconut and a row of jaws are hanging (if you are able to recognize the jaws as such). Gerbrands gave the following information:

"I took the picture on 16-01-1967 on the hill behind the village named Koorvok. In this picture you see the tree of Talania Aloysius from the village Koorvok. In the tree, which is not a coconutpalm, you see a coconut hanging. Below the coconut there is a row of at least 15 pig jaws. Talania, the owner of this tree and pig jaws, is a specialist in pig magic, which means that he is able to move the wild pigs in the bush closer to the village, where they can be caught. He is also the leading man and dancer/performer of the mythological being nausang. The performance of nausang is attended with a large amount of pigs, which are distributed and eaten.

Talania believes that the jaws in the tree still contain some kind of vital power. This vital power in the jaws is the reason they are hanging under the coconut in the tree. Talania hopes that the vital power of the jaws will make the coconut sprout.

Talania is not only a specialist in dancing and pig magic, but also in taro magic. On request, he performs some kind of magic act, which can be an offer to gardens in the form of some flowers, leaves or food, together with a singing or speaking act" (Gerbrands 1992; slide NB 67.204.31).

The Importance of the Gerbrands Project

The outcome of this project, a large flow of information and research data, is important for several reasons:

1) the scientific interest

2) the interest for the people in Kilenge, New Britain

3) the interest for the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde

4) the project is a starting point for further research

1) The scientific interest

I think that the scientific interest of collecting scientific data speaks for itself. But I would like to emphasize the comprehensiveness and comparability of the data collected.

Gerbrands has collected (written and visual) data about many important social and cultural events and developments in Kilenge society, like dances, rituals, ceremonies. He also collected data about the art, myths and the more ordinary things of life, like preparing a meal, fishing activities and people working in the gardens. This data was collected during four periods of fieldwork between 1967 and 1978 and Gerbrands noticed a lot of changes over those years. His data could be used for comparative research. I think you might say he recorded a part of Kilenge history, which is of great scientific interest, not only for western scientists, but also for the people of Kilenge.

2) The interest for the people in Kilenge, New Britain

As mentioned above, Gerbrands had registered a historical part of the Kilenge culture. It is possible to look at films, slides and photographs made 26 years ago. In those years, the people of Kilenge did not preserve visual data of their society. Recently, people in New Guinea have become aware of the importance of preserving all kinds of data about their culture and the first documentation centres have been established. It can be expected that in due time the people of Kilenge will contact the museum in Leiden to collect information about their culture and society.

Therefore, this collection is also very important for the people of Kilenge, and for Papua New Guinea in general. But even for them, the visual collection is not very useful without the descriptions and remarks from gerbrands, And since he will not be here forever to give an explanation, the work has to be done now.

3) The interest for the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde

The importance of the Gerbrands Project for the museum seems obvious, since I have made it clear that the visual collection is not very useful without the documentation. By starting this project, the value of the data has increased and the registration of the data makes it more accessible. But this was not the only reason for the museum to start the Gerbrands Project. The information collected during this project makes it possible for the museum to present Kilenge in a book or catalogue, together with an exhibition. The films, slides and photographs can play an important role in an exhibition of Kilenge museum items. The visual material makes it possible to show something of the original context. A Kilenge dance-mask can now be presented in a film, in which also the making of the mask can be seen, and a film showing the performance with the dance-mask is even available. Also portraits of the Kilenge people, the name of the mask, the artist, the meaning of the dance in this society and much more can be presented, providing the documentation is correct.

4) The Gerbrands-Project as a starting point for further research

Although the project is not yet finished, a lot of the data collected has never been published. However, the major goal of the project is to collect all the information possible and make a complete registration of the visual data. After all the work that has been done and all the information that has been collected, I would be very disappointed if it ended just with a computer file. So at the moment, plans are being made to continue the project. I will briefly describe my intentions for further research in a few lines.

Plans for Further Research

At the end of the year, the registration of the visual Gerbrands collection will be ready. Meanwhile, I am looking for possibilities to do Phd research and to make an ethnographic film in Kilenge. Between September 1993 and June 1994, I will learn how to make an ethnocinematological document by following the seminar "Introduction to the Use of Audiovisual Means", organized by Dr.D.J. Nijland and others. The emphasis during my fieldwork will be on the social meaning of tattooing among women in Kilenge society. There is a possibility that tattooing is a stage in the initiation of Kilenge-girls. At the end I hope to present the results in the form of a dissertation.

References:

- Gerbrands, A.A., 1992-'93, Verbal Communication. Leiden.

- H.F. Vermeulen, 1985, De Leidse lineage van museum- directeuren an antropologiehoogleraren: Gerbrands en de studie van etnocommunicatie. In: Teken van leven, ICA 71, Leiden.

- D. Nijland, S. Meyknecht, M. Postma, 1992, About the use of audiovisual tools in fieldwork, In: Newsletter CNWS No.7.